Rally urges awareness of Lyme disease

HARTFORD - The medical establishment needs to be more vigilant in diagnosing and treating Lyme disease, people who suffer from the disease said Friday.

People with Lyme disease - along with supporters and family members - held a rally on the steps of the Capitol to draw attention to the disease, which they said is being ignored by insurance companies and the medical establishment.

Shaw is also a member of the Newtown Lyme Disease Task Force. "My whole family has Lyme disease. My children have it, my husband has it, and I have it."

Cases of Lyme disease in Connecticut increased 34 percent last year, primarily because there were more animals for disease-carrying ticks to feed on, state officials said in an Associated Press story.

The state
Department of Public Health
said there were 1,810 new cases of Lyme disease reported by health care providers in 2005, up from 1,348 in 2004. The rate of Lyme disease in the state last year was 53 cases per 100,000 people.

reported 19,804 cases of Lyme disease across the country in 2004, the latest year for which statistics are available.

That translated nationally to a rate of 6.7 cases per 100,000 people.

Connecticut's rate in 2004 was 39.6 cases per 100,000.

People at the rally said that is why more attention needs to be paid to Lyme disease in the state.

"This a huge problem for the western part of the state," Shaw said. "And the local hospitals and doctors' offices don't know how to address the problem. My family and I have to drive an hour and a half for proper medical treatment."

Shaw isn't the only person having trouble with treatment for the disease that is carried by deer ticks.

Roanna Metowski of Redding said her daughter, now 20, contracted Lyme disease when she was 15. It took five years and eight doctors to finally get the right diagnosis.

"Four of those five years she spent bedridden. None of this would have had to happen if she had been diagnosed and treated correctly," Metowski said.

While the most well-known symptom of Lyme disease is a red rash shaped like a target, the rash doesn't always appear, allowing the disease to go undetected, he said.

"There are other symptoms that are associated with the disease. Nausea or constant fatigue are signs of Lyme disease, but doctors don't typically associate those with Lyme, and that's one of the reason that it goes unnoticed," Metowski said.

In an interview after the Hartford rally, Dr.
Thomas Draper
, Danbury's associate health director, said there is no lack of Lyme disease awareness locally.

"I don't really think that there is a lack of medical treatment for people in the Danbury area," Draper said. "I know that there is no lack of treatment for people with Lyme disease in the Danbury area."

Easton resident
Dolly Curtis
was bitten by a tick about 16 years ago - and still suffers from medical problems. It also took years for her to get the Lyme disease diagnosis.

"My doctor told me he thought that it was arthritis. Arthritis? Overnight? It was Lyme disease, not arthritis," she said.

Curtis lives day-by-day with the disease. "I can barely move because all my joints are so stiff. It's hard for me to get around, even after 16 years."

Connecticut Attorney General
Richard Blumenthal
also appeared at Friday's rally. He said the health industry must do more to diagnose and treat the disease.

"Lyme disease is a public health tragedy and travesty. This disease is devastating and needs to be taken care of. Lyme disease can not be defeated as long as it is ignored by the health officials in the state and around the country. This has to change."